Thursday, March 20, 2014

Microsoft Office of Legal Compliance

Microsoft Office of Legal Compliance
Off topic: The name Office of Legal Compliance immediately made me think of 1984's Ministry naming. Similarly to how the Ministry of Truth's job is to spread propaganda and falsify history in the novel, this Office of Legal Compliance department's job is to ask themselves, "How far can we push the envelope toward being illegal, but still remain within legal boundaries?"
Essentially their job is dealing with things that border on being illegal. Determining how far you can get to illegality, while remaining technically inside legality.
For the first time the notion of "newspeak" in real life has clicked for me. I'd never grokked the idea from the novel, other than as some fear mongering fantasy that Orwell invented for the sake of compelling irony. But now I see, names actually make sense, from a certain angle. They weren't purely ironic devices.
For the record, I'm NOT comparing Microsoft to Big Brother. Just funny to draw that parallel in naming choices.

Microsoft’s commitment to corporate responsibility and integrity defines the work of our compliance program. LCA’s Office of Legal Compliance (OLC) is responsible for Microsoft’s overall compliance with corporate policies, guidelines, as well as the laws around the world. The Office issues the company’s code of conduct (Standards of Business Conduct), corporate compliance policies and develops annual online training that reaches every Microsoft employee. It also supervises the company’s non-EEO compliance internal investigations. More broadly, LCA’s leaders reinforce our commitment to integrity as a fundamental part of every job within the Department ̶ a commitment that goes well beyond compliance with legal obligations.